University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
The Messenger
Vol. 5, No. 2/1996
1995 Fall Sports Recap
FOOTBALL
Overall record: 11-2, 8-0 Yankee Conference; Yankee Conference
Champions
Head coach: Tubby Raymond
Captains: Larry McSeed, Shannon Trostle
In a career that spans 30 years as head football coach,
Tubby Raymond has had few teams more exciting, or more
successful, than the 1995 Blue Hens. The team posted an 11-2
record, captured its fifth Yankee Conference title with an
undefeated mark of 8-0, was named ECAC Team of the Year and
Lambert Cup Eastern champion and advanced to the NCAA I-AA
playoffs for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Starting out the season 9-0, before falling to I-A Navy Nov.
11 in Annapolis, the Hens bounced back with a 24-19 win over
Rhode Island that clinched the Yankee title and overwhelmed
highly regarded Hofstra 38-17 at Delaware Stadium in the first
round of the playoffs. However, the season ended a week later as
No. 1 ranked McNeese State handed the Hens a 52-18 defeat at Lake
Charles, La.
The Hens, ranked near the top of the national leaders in
rushing, total offense, scoring offense and scoring defense, were
No. 6 in the final Sports Network I-AA Top 25 poll and never
dropped lower than 12th the entire season.
Individually, junior quarterback Leo Hamlett of Northfield,
N.J., enjoyed an outstanding season, passing for 2,086 yards and
16 touchdowns and rushing for 756 yards and 10 touchdowns. Named
the ECAC Player of the Year and the Yankee Conference Offensive
Player of the Year, he will enter the 1996 season as one of the
top players in I-AA.
Senior offensive linemen Shannon Trostle of Gettysburg, Pa.,
and Steve Archibald of East Petersburg, Pa., were named second-
team All-Americans by the Sports Network, while junior safety
Kenny Bailey of Harrington, Del., was named first-team All-
American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). In
all, five Blue Hen players earned first-team All-Yankee honors as
Hamlett, Archibald, Trostle, sophomore linebacker Ralph D'Angelo
of Warminster, Pa., and sophomore safety Dorrell Green of Capitol
Heights, Md., were honored. Raymond was named the AFCA I-AA
Region I Coach of the Year.
Fourteen starters, seven on offense and on defense, will
return next season.
FIELD HOCKEY
Overall record: 11-8, 4-4 North Atlantic Conference
Head coach: Carol Miller
Captains: Kim Lockbaum, Lauren Baugher
Despite a rocky start, the field hockey team was one of the
hottest in the nation by the close of the 1995 season.
The Hens, who narrowly missed out on a second straight NAC
playoff bid with a 4-4 conference mark, won their final seven
games of the season to finish with an 11-8 record for a third
straight winning season under head coach Carol Miller.
After starting the season 1-5, the Hens caught fire and
posted a record of 10-3 over the second half of the season,
giving them strong momentum heading into 1996.
Leading the Blue Hens were senior co-captains Lauren Baugher
of Feasterville, Pa., and Kim Lockbaum of Glassboro, N.J.
Baugher, a senior midfielder, was the Hens' second leading scorer
with 10 goals and 11 assists and earned first-team Collegiate
Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors.
She had four game-winning goals and 27 career goals. Lockbaum, a
four-year starter in the nets, set five school records during her
career and was named second-team All-Mid Atlantic Region in 1995,
when she posted five shutouts and a .853 save percentage. She
leaves Delaware with record career shutouts (22) and career saves
(669).
Also leading the Hens were top scorer Melissa Hefner of
Sellersville, Pa., a junior who scored 14 goals and four assists
and was named second-team All-NAC and second-team All-Mid
Atlantic Region, and senior Marcie Tobin-Fraser of Voorhees,
N.J., who was second-team All-NAC and second-team All-Mid
Atlantic Region. Kelly Cawley of Fleetwood, Pa., was one of the
top freshmen in the NAC with eight goals.
VOLLEYBALL
Overall record: 25-13, 7-0 North Atlantic Conference (2nd at NAC
finals)
Head coach: Barbara Viera
Captains: Nikki Brassell, Emily Rome
It was another banner year for head coach Barbara Viera and
her Blue Hen women's volleyball team in 1995. Viera earned her
second straight NAC Coach of the Year Award and went over 600
career wins. The Hens posted a record of 25-13, the team's fourth
straight 20-win season, and captured the NAC regular season.
However, the Hens missed out on their first ever NCAA tournament
bid as they fell to host Hofstra 3-1 in a championship game Nov.
19 in Hempstead, N.Y.
The Blue Hens won the University of Pennsylvania
Invitational Sept. 8-9 and finished second at the Delaware
Invitational Oct. 20-21 at the Bob Carpenter Center and at the
Forrestal Classic at Navy Nov. 3-4.
Individually, senior co-captains Emily Rome of Chanhassen,
Minn., and Nikki Brassell of Germantown, Md., capped outstanding
careers, while junior Karen Kunselman of Dover, Pa., proved to be
one of the NAC's premier players. Kunselman, who led the Hens
with 373 kills, a NAC leading .416 kill percentage and 132
blocks, also was named first team All-NAC as well as first team
All-District I.
Brassell and Rome, both GTE/CoSIDA District II All-Academic
selections, each earned All-NAC honors with Rome named to the
first team and Brassell to the second team. Rome collected 246
kills, 234 digs and 86 blocks for the season and finished as
Delaware's all-time block leader with 460 and ranked No. 2 on the
all-time kill list with 1,245. Brassell, who led the team in
assists for the fourth straight season with 1,189, finished her
career with a UD record 4,620 assists.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Overall record: 11-8, 4-2 North Atlantic Conference
Head coach: Scott Grzenda
Captains: Katie Nietubicz, Stephanie Schoening, Julie Mastromonaco
For the second straight season, the women's soccer team
advanced to the championship game of the NAC playoffs.
Unfortunately, in a match with national power Hartford, the Hens
suffered a 3-0 setback in overtime.
But, it was another successful fall for head coach Scott
Grzenda, whose squad posted a 9-7 overall record (4-2 in NAC
play) for the team's third straight winning season.
Grzenda's young and talented team was led by junior
midfielder Beth Hatt of Downingtown, Pa., an Academic All-
American candidate who was named to the National Soccer Coaches
Association All-Mid Atlantic Region team for the second straight
year, after scoring 11 goals and dishing out eight assists.
Sophomore Beth Gregory of Mechanicsburg, Pa., had another solid
season as forward, leading the team with 13 goals and five
assists and earning NSCA third-team All-Mid Atlantic Region
honors.
Other standouts for the Hens were junior defender Katie
Nietubicz of Havre de Grace, Md., who was named first-team All-
NAC; and senior defender Julie Mastromonaco of Basking Ridge,
N.J. and freshman forward Michelle Loux of Chalfont, Pa., who
were both named to the NAC All-Tournament team along with
Nietubicz and Hatt. Loux was the team's third leading goal scorer
with seven. Junior Melissa Kulp of Herndon, Va., had another
solid year at goalkeeper, posting eight shutouts and a 1.19 goals
allowed average.
MEN'S SOCCER
Overall record: 5-11-2, 1-6-2 North Atlantic Conference
Head coach: Marc Samonisky
Captains: Dan Schultz, Brian Gunter, Steve Meldrom
The men's soccer team showed remarkable improvement in 1995
with a record of 5-11-2, after a disappointing 1-17 mark the
previous season.
Head coach Marc Samonisky closed his third season with great
optimism for the future. The Hens won five contests, including a
key win over Georgetown, a 1994 NCAA tournament participant, in
the season opener. The Hens also posted wins over Virginia
Military Institute, UMBC and Richmond and defeated Hofstra in
their final game of the season for their first NAC victory since
1991. Of the Hens' 11 losses, four were by one goal.
Among the standouts for the squad were sophomore Brad
Phillips of Glenmore, Pa., who led the team with 13 points on six
goals and one assist; freshman Cole Gillespie of Worthington,
Ohio, with three goals and two assists; and sophomore Brian
Gunter of Bel Air, Md., with three goals and two assists. Junior
Steve Meldrom of Elkton,Md., and Jeff Anderson of Wallingford,
Pa., the team's only senior, provided solid leadership.
Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Joaquin Hurtado of Santa
Cruz, Bolivia, started 17 games and posted a 1.86 goals against
average and two shutouts.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Overall record: 12-1 overall, 2nd place at NAC Championships
Head coach: Laura LeRoy
Captain: Kate Brune
Head coach Laura LeRoy's women's tennis squad breezed
through the competition, posting a near-perfect 12-1 dual record
and finishing second, behind powerful Boston University at the
North Atlantic Conference Championships.
LeRoy, who was named NAC Coach of the Year for the second
straight season, led her team to its best dual record since the
1987 squad went 12-3. After opening the season with a 4-0 mark,
the Hens were edged by Bucknell 5-4. Delaware then won its final
eight matches.
At the NAC championships, Blue Hen players advanced to the
finals in five of the six flights, losing to players from Boston
University in each match. Rebecca Fearins of Wantage, N.J., was
second at No. 2 singles, St. Joseph's transfer Cindy Pilipczuk of
Flourtown, Pa., was runner-up at No. 3 singles, Lisa Fry of
Milford, Del., was second at No. 4 singles, Megan Zusi of Sea
Girt, N.J., was second at No. 5 singles, and the team of Jane
Kratz of Blooming Glen, Pa., and Jenn Carbonara of Elizabethtown,
Pa., placed second at No. 1 doubles. The Blue Hens' No. 1 singles
player, Kate Brune of Indianapolis, was third.
For the season, the Blue Hens won 55 of 71 singles matches
and 31 of 35 doubles match.
WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Overall record: 10-0; NAC Champions
Head coach: Susan McGrath-Powell
Captains: Sarah Cowles, Murphee Hayes
Led by the trio of Sarah Cowles of Newark, Del., Tara
Pointin of Trenton, N.J., and Chris Rolleri of Skaneateles, N.Y.,
the Delaware women's cross country team posted a perfect 10-0
dual meet season and captured its third North Atlantic Conference
title in four years.
Sue McGrath-Powell, was named NAC Coach of the Year for the
second straight year.
Cowles won the individual title at the event, covering the
course in 18:19, defeating the nearest competitor by eight
seconds. Pointin, who led the team in four races during the
season, finished third overall at the NAC meet while Rolleri was
fourth and Katie Guarracino of New Windsor, N.Y., was seventh.
In addition to the 10-0 dual meet slate, the Hens placed
third at the Fordham Invitational, sixth at the Paul Short
Invitational at Lehigh, seventh at the Lafayette Invitational and
eighth at the ECAC District II championships.
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Overall record: 7-1, 3rd place at NAC Championships
Head coach: Jim Fischer
Captains: Mike Brogan, Barry Pollack, Brian Rubin
Led by Barry Pollock of Newark, Del., who placed ninth at
the NAC meet, the Hens finished third as a team behind Boston
University and New Hampshire in the team standings.
In addition to the dual record, Delaware placed second at
the Fordham Invitational, sixth at the Boston College
Invitational, ninth at the Lafayette Invitational, 14th at the
Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh and 20th at the IC4A
championships.
Individually, Pollock led the Hens in four races during the
season, including a sixth-place finish at the Fordham
Invitational. The Hens also received solid contributions from
sophomore Zach Chupa of Wilmington, Del., who was the Hens' top
finisher in two races; freshman Jeremy Muratore of Tenafly, N.J.,
who was 11th at the NAC championships; junior Brian Rubin of
Suffern, N.Y., who was 15th at NAC; and freshman Dave Geesaman of
Harrisburg, Pa., who was 18th at NAC.